1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing device for a three-dimensional laminate shaped object, and in particular, relates to a manufacturing device for a three-dimensional laminate shaped object where the volume of a molding space in a molding chamber is changeable.
2. Description of Related Art
A manufacturing device of a three-dimensional laminate shaped object forms a sintered layer by irradiating a powder layer, composed of material powder for example, with a beam to sinter the powder layer; lays out a new powder layer on top of the sintered layer; forms a new sintered layer that is bonded to the sintered layer below by irradiating the new powder layer with a beam to sinter the new power layer; and then repeats the above steps, so as to manufacture a desired three-dimensional laminate shaped object having multiple sintered layers laminated integrally.
Such a manufacturing device is for example disclosed in Patent Document 1. The manufacturing device of Patent Document 1 supplies the material powder from a powder supplying device to a flattening device, and while supplying the material powder to the molding chamber through the flattening device to form a powder layer, the manufacturing device levels the surface of the powder layer. The flattening device has an elongated structure along the Y-axis direction. The powder material is supplied to the flattening device through the powder supplying device at a predetermined position along a longitudinal direction (Y-axis direction) of the flattening device. By moving the flattening device to a predetermined position along an X-axis direction, it is possible to supply the material powder corresponding to a desired molding space. The material powder that is supplied to the molding space is irradiated with a laser (laser beam) so as to form a sintered layer. The terminal ends (outer surface) of the formed sintered layer are then sliced and processed using an end mill (slicing equipment) so as to form a shaped object.
In Patent Document 1, during the production of the laminated shaped object, the material powder is spread into the entire space of the molding chamber. However, since the space where the laminate shaped object is actually formed constitutes only a part of the region in the molding chamber, the material powder that is spread outside of the said region is recovered to be reused. In this situation, in the recovered powder, the reusable material powder is mixed with the sliced powder generated by slice processing. Therefore, in order to reuse the material powder, the two types of powders mentioned above are sorted, and a work process to collect the reusable material powder would be necessary. In such an occasion, if the amount of recovered powder is large, then the work burden would also increase. Therefore, it is desirable to minimize the amount of material powder that is supplied to the molding chamber to reduce the amount of material powder that is spread outside of the region used to form the laminate shaped object.
Thus, as described in Patent Document 2, by limiting the laying space for the material powder in the molding chamber, a manufacturing device for a three-dimensional laminate shaped object that can reduce an amount of the supplied material powder is provided. In the manufacturing device for a three-dimensional laminate shaped object as described in Patent Document 2, provided are a table that moves along a vertical direction during the molding of the laminate shaped object; an attachment where the material powder is deposited, wherein the attachment is attached to the upper surface of the table and has a smaller area than the table when viewed from above; and additional side walls that are fitted without a gap and are foldable corresponding to the attachment. As such, in the molding chamber, a space surrounded by the attachment and the side walls is formed, wherein the material powder is spread within the space. In other words, in the entire space of the molding chamber, the space where the material powder is spread will be limited within the space surrounded by the aforementioned attachment and additional sidewalls. Therefore, as compared to the case where the material powder is spread to the entire space of the molding chamber, the spreading space of the material powder is reduced. As such, the amount of material powder that is supplied to the molding chamber is suppressed, and a recovered amount of the material powder is reduced after forming the laminate shaped object.